SAT Prep Courses?

Question

I'm trying to decide which SAT prep course to take.

Kaplan and Princeton Review both have classes near me, but I'm open to other classes as well. If you can, please provide details about how they teach the classes, what materials they use, etc.

Also, is getting a private tutor or doing a small group more worthwhile than a class? How is it different?

Answer 1

I took another prep class, but I heard that Kaplan/Princeton solely depends on the location and the instructor you will be assigned to. I'm sure there really isn't too much of a gap between those two institutions.

In regards to gettng a private tutor or small group, personally I like a big class. I learn most effectively when the teacher asks the students a set of questions and the class as a whole would answer. So, this why I'm applying to big universities next year, because I learned well in a group of big people. Well, wait take that back, not like 100 people, but like 30-50 ish. Although 50 kind of sounds like too much. Small study groups work well too, because a lot of attention will be geared toward the individual. As for a private tutor, I did not do well when I got tutored one-on-one, simply because the teacher had not criteria or curriculum to follow, and just followed whatever I wanted to do. For instance, in a class the teacher will assign homework and it's usually quite a hefty load of homework. However, when I got private tutored, the teacher would ask me what I had wanted to do. Even when the teacher assigned work, I would not do it because I would feel that the teacher could cover something else with the given time. Anyway, that's just personally me.

One other factor to consider is that if you are getting below a 1500 on the SAT private tutoring is a MUST. In a regular class (whether big or small, unless everyone in that class is a 1500 student) they will move too rapidly for the 1500 student to follow up. However, with private tutoring, the tutor could make you more directly aware of your weak points.

Answer 2

I tried to take a prep class, but it didn't help me at all, I just wasted time and money. You can increase your score if you study with a book. I recommend Princeton Review and Tutorfox new SAT guide, http://www.tutorfox.com/satguide.html

With both books I improved my score from 1660 to 2120 in only 2 months of summer. Good luck, and let me know if you need any more help.